How To Shop Designer Resale In St. Louis

How To Shop Designer Resale In St. Louis

The owners of The Vault Luxury Resale in St. Louis have developed a keen ability to curate an impressive collection of designer goods that keep people coming back to buy—and sell—more and more. We caught up with Diana Ford, one-third of the “Resale Royalty” trio (along with mom Sue McCarthy and sister Laura Maurice) who own and run the Brentwood shop. Our conversation included the importance of both buyers and sellers, their top trend item of the spring season and their new smartphone app, equipped with pop-up deals shoppers will love. Keep reading for all the details.

You are in a unique situation where you have two types of customers: sellers and buyers. For the former, you specialize in making it easy for them to sell as quickly and easily as possible. Can you tell us a bit about that process?
For our walk-in sales, there is no amount that’s too little or too big for us. We look through 1,000 items a day, so we’ve really got it down to a science now. We know what we are looking for: labels from high-end department stores and boutiques purchased within the last three years, with a very particular aesthetic. However, we also buy everything from Lululemon to Louis Vuitton. Our best-selling labels are Vince, Theory, Eileen Fisher, Rebecca Taylor, Madewell, and many more. We look through your items while you wait, and we offer either a cash buyout option or an in-store credit, with the whole process taking 10-15 minutes. It’s a very unique curatorial process and service.

You also offer a “pick-up” service where you go to seller’s homes and buy items straight from their wardrobes. How does that process work?
Our process as far as us coming to you, rather than you coming to us, really just means that you have to have the volume and the labels that would warrant the visit. We travel to homes here in St. Louis, Chicago, Kansas City, Nashville and New York. On several occasions, we have found ourselves crammed into a tiny NYC service elevator with bags of clothes to bring back to our retail space.

People think that we just want Chanel and Louis Vuitton when we do a pick-up, but that’s not true. We are also after very wearable labels, recently purchased and in excellent condition. Many of the closets we visit right here in St. Louis are filled to the brim with highly sellable labels like Tory Burch, Kate Spade, Lilly Pulitzer and more.

If you’re a busy person—as we all are—and you don’t have enough time to come in, we can come to you, offer up a price and pay you right on the spot.

What would you say is the hottest category in the shop for people to snag right now, and in the upcoming season?
Definitely handbags and dresses. We have become the “dress-tination,” if you will, in St. Louis, perfect if you’re looking for something to wear to a wedding, special event or date night. Women can snag a Rebecca Taylor silk dress, which would typically retail for something like $400, for a price point around $69.

Also because of social media, people are wearing their dresses once, maybe twice, and then buying something else, once it’s been captured in a photo. So not only are people bringing in these really amazing dresses that have barely been worn, but you can also buy designer dresses here at a fraction of the typical price.

We heard you have a new app for shoppers to snag designer goods even faster, and with better deals. Can you tell us more about it?
The Vault Resale app is the newest way for customers to keep tabs on all of the items in the store, especially if there is a hot-ticket item you’re searching for, or if you like the convenience of seeing the selection at any time. It also features loyalty-program access and push notifications for pop-up sales, which we run frequently at really great, exclusive discounts–40 percent off of shoes for two hours, for example.

Located in St. Louis? Download The Vault Resale app, and mark your calendars for their official launch party, “Appy Hour,” which will feature discounts, snacks, cocktails and a shopping-spree giveaway, on April 27 from 5:30-7:30pm.

Photo by Attilio D’Agostino. This post has been brought to you in part by the mentioned business. Thank you for supporting the companies that keep ALIVE growing.